Comics 6/22 Part The First (House of M #2, Cap #7, Astro City #1)
House of M #2
Captain America #7
Astro City: the Dark Age #1
House of M #2 (Bendis/Copiel; Marvel) This issue reminds me of watching TV with my good friend Joe, who is the worst channel-flipper known to the modern world. Oh, look, it's Scott and Emma, what are they---FLIP! -- hey, a page of Simon-- FLIP! You get the general picture -- or not, as we flip quickly past it. There are 11 "introductions" in this book, a couple of which are multi-page but many of which are a single page. It's a bit distracting, but it's an interesting technique for one issue, although with 6 issues left and 11 plot lines to resolve, it's hard to see any other way to handle it. Very amusing, seeing the alternate realities the characters end up in. Poor Hank (Pym, not McCoy.)
Captain America #7 (Brubaker/Leon; Marvel). Okay, now that was dark and personally resonant, as well - I spent 4 years watching a combination of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's take my father, and it was a race to see if it would be body or mind first - either way, he knew what was coming. Just like poor Jack, trying so hard to keep it together, to go out not so much as in a noble and heroic way, but with some kind of personal meaning and some kind of control, and it was all pointless. He didn't even get to go out in a flash of glory. Was it a realistic ending for the character? Yes, probably. But it was pretty damned tragic, too. Brubaker does dark so very well - there isn't maudlin about it, no sappy heart-string tugging - just pretty unrelentingly sad drama.
Astro City: the Dark Age #1 (Busiek/Anderson; WildStorm) Politics, social commentary, history and family drama as two brothers struggle to define their relationship and their own lives -what more could you possible want from a comic book? The 70s are a perfect backdrop for these themes (and gotta love the fashions and hairstyles), a time in which it seemed like the world had developed a horrible, hardening cynicism but which now seems a tad naïve. The use of the Old Soldier as a political divide/motivator is brilliant - the very thing to act as a catalyze for fears and anger of the time. Great start with a lot of themes and plots developing. I love books which reward careful, thoughtful reading and this is clearly one of them. BEST OF THE WEEK (and probably the month)
Captain America #7
Astro City: the Dark Age #1
House of M #2 (Bendis/Copiel; Marvel) This issue reminds me of watching TV with my good friend Joe, who is the worst channel-flipper known to the modern world. Oh, look, it's Scott and Emma, what are they---FLIP! -- hey, a page of Simon-- FLIP! You get the general picture -- or not, as we flip quickly past it. There are 11 "introductions" in this book, a couple of which are multi-page but many of which are a single page. It's a bit distracting, but it's an interesting technique for one issue, although with 6 issues left and 11 plot lines to resolve, it's hard to see any other way to handle it. Very amusing, seeing the alternate realities the characters end up in. Poor Hank (Pym, not McCoy.)
Captain America #7 (Brubaker/Leon; Marvel). Okay, now that was dark and personally resonant, as well - I spent 4 years watching a combination of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's take my father, and it was a race to see if it would be body or mind first - either way, he knew what was coming. Just like poor Jack, trying so hard to keep it together, to go out not so much as in a noble and heroic way, but with some kind of personal meaning and some kind of control, and it was all pointless. He didn't even get to go out in a flash of glory. Was it a realistic ending for the character? Yes, probably. But it was pretty damned tragic, too. Brubaker does dark so very well - there isn't maudlin about it, no sappy heart-string tugging - just pretty unrelentingly sad drama.
Astro City: the Dark Age #1 (Busiek/Anderson; WildStorm) Politics, social commentary, history and family drama as two brothers struggle to define their relationship and their own lives -what more could you possible want from a comic book? The 70s are a perfect backdrop for these themes (and gotta love the fashions and hairstyles), a time in which it seemed like the world had developed a horrible, hardening cynicism but which now seems a tad naïve. The use of the Old Soldier as a political divide/motivator is brilliant - the very thing to act as a catalyze for fears and anger of the time. Great start with a lot of themes and plots developing. I love books which reward careful, thoughtful reading and this is clearly one of them. BEST OF THE WEEK (and probably the month)